1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates generally to photo albums. More particularly, this invention relates to an electronic storage media for containing and displaying photo images.
2. Background
Storage of photo images has been problematic for many years. Photographs are fragile, vulnerable items that require special attention when storing. Because dust, sunlight and water can damage photographic images, many people store photographs in albums specially designed for the purpose. Unfortunately, in order to effectively protect the photos and allow for continual viewing of the photos, albums such as these must be made secure enough to withstand long use and inadvertent abuse. Typically, these albums are heavy and voluminous and so require a large, secure space for storage.
Photographs which are related in theme or content, such as family photos, vacation pictures or the like, are often organized as part of a collection. Examples include albums dedicated to pictures of a particular child, pictures from a certain vacation, or pictures from a given period of time. Such collections or albums often become so large that they become unmanageable. Individual photos may be difficult to quickly access, as many albums must be inspected in order to locate a particular photo.
With the advent of digital cameras, many people are converting from traditional printed photos to images stored on digital memory devices, such as floppy disks, optical memory devices such as CD-ROMs, or more convenient devices such as memory sticks. While this new technology may allow many images to be stored on one medium, identification of content becomes a problem. Disks are easily mixed in bulk storage devices and are inconsistently labeled. Keeping disks in an orderly system with a practical indexing structure is very difficult.
Typically, a computing device such as a desktop or notebook computer has been required for viewing the digital images. Without access to this computer, the digital images are meaningless. A separate storage location has generally been needed for storing the memory devices in a meaningful order. Filing cases for floppy disks or CD-ROMs comprise the typical storage location. Because a desktop or notebook computer is primarily used for tasks other than viewing images stored on removable media, storage of digital photos continues to be segregated at its own location, separate from the display device. In this manner, the array of media disks does not interfere with the unrelated operation of the computer. As a result, viewing digital images stored on removable storage devices requires first locating the storage media and then transporting the media to the computer for viewing.